Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Medicinal marijuana crimes on the rise

Sheriff tests law on keeping site locations confidential

By Stover E. Harger IIIThe Forest Grove News-Times, Oct 21, 2008

Crimes in Washington County associated with medical marijuana grow sites are on the rise — including armed robberies and assaults — but if you're like most people, you didn't have any way of knowing this.

Until now.

That's because the Washington County Sheriff's Office recently decided it would change its interpretation of the state's 10-year-old medical marijuana law and release information, previously deemed to be confidential, about participants in the medical marijuana program who break the law.

The move has raised eyebrows from some medical marijuana advocates who say the county law enforcement officials are overstepping their bounds and possibly breaking the law themselves.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program keeps a confidential list of people who are sanctioned to grow a limited number of marijuana plants for medicinal purposes. Oregon law (ORS 475.331) states:

"Authorized employees of state or local law enforcement agencies that obtain identifying information from the list as authorized under this section may not release or use the information for any purpose other than verification that a person is a lawful possessor of a registry identification card or the designated primary caregiver of a lawful possessor of a registry identification card or that a location is an authorized medical marijuana grow site."The sheriff's office concedes that its new policy may violate that law. Sgt. David Thompson, sheriff's spokesman said the office is taking the possibly contentious step in order inform the public about an increasing number of illegal marijuana grows associated with the program and to bring to light the possible dangers involved with having a medical marijuana grower in your neighborhood.

"We haven'anged the way we are operating or doing business in terms of the way we are prosecuting or dealing with Oregon Medical Marijuana Program growers," Thompson said. "What we are changing is the information that we are releasing to the public. We feel the public has a right to know when people are committing crime."

Last month over 2.5 pounds of marijuana and growing equipment were seized by the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team at the Aloha home of an OMMP participant. While detectives were searching the house, the sheriff's office reports, numerous people showed up to the home looking to buy marijuana, which is illegal under the OMMA. Five arrests were made and a shotgun was seized from the home.

It didn't stop there.

While the WIN Team was leaving the home they were called to another Aloha OMMP participant residence that was reported to have a large marijuana grow. The WIN Team found 39 more marijuana plants than is allowed under OMMA law as well as six pounds of dried marijuana, much more than the 1.5 pounds of dried marijuana that is allowed.

Another recent OMMP related area crime involved a group of masked suspects, two of whom were carrying guns, who burst into the home, demanding money and marijuana. The occupants of the house were then assaulted by the assailants.

Thompson said in most cases the home invasions or robberies at OMMP grower homes were committed by acquaintances and many of the properties were themselves operating outside the growing guidelines of the act.

Specific statistics on OMMP related crimes are not available, Thompson said, but a map (viewable at www.co.washington.or.us/sheriff/media/photos/medmj5.jpg) posted on the sheriff's office website shows the general locations of 26 homes in Washington County where OMMP patients, caregivers or growers where drug arrests or warrants were made in the last year.

As of July Oregon has 19,646 medical marijuana patients. The OMMP, which administers the medical marijuana act, does not have a tally of growers. Nor does it police its participants or provide oversight of marijuana grows after they initially approve them.

The sheriff's office has received support from other law enforcement agencies for their decision, according to Thompson, but not everyone is applauding.

Leland Berger, an Oregon criminal defense lawyer who helped draft the medical marijuana act, said that if the sheriff's office was honestly concerned about violence associated with the medical marijuana program they should teach OMMP participants how to protect themselves from burglary and other crimes.

Berger thinks releasing names and addresses of medical marijuana users and growers, even if they are arrested, is against the law and can't understand why the sheriff's office would do so.

"There isn't any public safety reason to do that and they know it," he said.

Berger said there is a perceived bias against medical marijuana coming from the sheriff's office. Earlier this year Berger represented three men who were denied concealed weapons permits by Sheriff Rob Gordon. The sheriff argued that federal law prohibits drug users from possessing firearms.

In May, a judge disagreed with that logic and ordered Gordon to approve the permits for the men. That ruling was appealed in June by the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

Berger said those actions have created a hostile environment for medical marijuana participants living in the county. "Rob Gordon, and whoever else is making policy decisions, decided that for reasons which escape me that somehow it's a blight on the community," he said. "That somehow things were better when patients were prosecuted."

Thompson, however, said the sheriff's office is not against medical marijuana.

"There are people that this act helps," he said. "What we are talking about here are the people that are abusing the system."

"We haven't changed the way we are operating or doing business in terms of the way we are prosecuting or dealing with Oregon Medical Marijuana Program growers," Thompson said. "What we are changing is the information that we are releasing to the public. We feel the public has a right to know when people are committing crime."

Last month over 2.5 pounds of marijuana and growing equipment were seized by the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team at the Aloha home of an OMMP participant.

While detectives were searching the house, the sheriff's office reports, numerous people showed up to the home looking to buy marijuana, which is illegal under the OMMA. Five arrests were made and a shotgun was seized from the home.

It didn't stop there.

While the WIN Team was leaving the home they were called to another Aloha OMMP participant residence that was reported to have a large marijuana grow. The WIN Team found 39 more marijuana plants than is allowed under OMMA law as well as six pounds of dried marijuana, much more than the 1.5 pounds of dried marijuana that is allowed.

Another recent OMMP related area crime involved a group of masked suspects, two of whom were carrying guns, who burst into the home, demanding money and marijuana. The occupants of the house were then assaulted by the assailants.

Thompson said in most cases the home invasions or robberies at OMMP grower homes were committed by acquaintances and many of the properties were themselves operating outside the growing guidelines of the act.

However, a map (viewable at www.co.washington.or.us/sheriff/media/photos/medmj5.jpg) posted on the sheriff's office web site shows the general locations of 26 homes in Washington County where OMMP patients, caregivers or growers where drug arrests or warrants were made in the last year.

The map refers to two sites in the rural Gaston area and three sites outside of Banks. The highest concentration of sites is in Aloha, an unincorporated urbanized area between Hillsboro and Beaverton.

As of July Oregon has 19,646 medical marijuana patients. The OMMP, which administers the medical marijuana act, does not have a tally of growers. Nor does it police its participants or provide oversight of marijuana grows after they initially approve them.

The sheriff's office has received support from other law enforcement agencies for their decision, according to Thompson, but not everyone is applauding.

Leland Berger, an Oregon criminal defense lawyer who helped draft the medical marijuana act, said that if the sheriff's office was honestly concerned about violence associated with the medical marijuana program they should teach OMMP participants how to protect themselves from burglary and other crimes.

Berger thinks releasing names and addresses of medical marijuana users and growers, even if they are arrested, is against the law and can't understand why the sheriff's office would do so.

"There isn't any public safety reason to do that and they know it," he said.

Berger said there is a perceived bias against medical marijuana coming from the sheriff's office.

Earlier this year Berger represented three men who were denied concealed weapons permits by Sheriff Rob Gordon. The sheriff argued that federal law prohibits drug users from possessing firearms.

In May, a judge disagreed with that logic and ordered Gordon to approve the permits for the men. That ruling was appealed in June by the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

Berger said those actions have created a hostile environment for medical marijuana participants living in the county.

"Rob Gordon, and whoever else is making policy decisions, decided that for reasons which escape me that somehow it's a blight on the community," he said. "That somehow things were better when patients were prosecuted."

Thompson, however, said the sheriff's office is not against medical marijuana.

"There are people that this act helps," he said. "What we are talking about here are the people that are abusing the system."